Midget Sox drop championship game

The Soo Black Sox can take a lot of things from the 2007 Paul C. Andary Memorial Tournament, except a championship.

The Black Sox dropped a 7-3 decision to the Escanaba Cubs on Sunday afternoon in the tournament's championship game. The Cubs used a four-run fifth inning to take the lead in the game and sealed things up with a pair of runs in the seventh. The Black Sox held a 3-1 lead heading into the fifth.

"Our guys worked really hard and Escanaba's a great ball team," said Black Sox coach Ryan Johns. "Our guys came out and they were ready to play. Unfortunately we didn't get a couple of bounces our way."

"These were two teams that I felt deserved to be here," said Escanaba coach Tom Ohman. "I always respect the Black Sox teams. We were able to step up. The kids just played well all weekend."

In their semi-final win the Black Sox put up four runs in the fourth inning to top Sanford 6-1. Tyler Binkley got the complete game while giving up seven hits and striking out five. Kyle Sayers had a pair of hits for the Black Sox. Sanford left 10 runners stranded in the game.

"Tyler pitched a great game." Johns said o Binkley's performance. "He did a good job mixing speeds. He threw a lot of pitches which kept them out on their front foot and really allowed him to take control of the game early."

In their semi-final win over Alpena, Escanaba put up nine runs in the opening inning to cruise to an 11-2 victory. Steve Berg, who was named tournament MVP knocked in three runs in the win while stroking a double and a triple.

Johns was pleased with the efforts of his club over the weekend.

"Overall, I'm very proud of our guys this weekend," Johns said. "We played well. Unfortunately, some of the bounces didn't go our way and we made a few mental mistakes."

*** TOURNAMENT RESULTS:

Following are the complete round robin results from the 2007 Paul C. Andary Memorial Tournament:

July 13th

Black Sox 4, Petoskey 0 – Tyler Wilson had three hits while Kyle Sayers had a pair of hits and three runs batted in for the Black Sox. Nick Moon also had a pair of hits in the win. Tony Bellmer had two hits for Petoskey,

EUP Travelers 12, Marquette 0 – Grant Malone went the distance and threw a no-hitter for EUP. Offensively, Rico Castro had a pair of hits and knocked in two runs. Craig Wallis and James Perry also knocked in a pair of runs each for EUP.

Escanaba 8, Sanford 7 – Escanaba scored three runs in the third inning and four more in the fifth for the win. Jay Grabowski, Doug Beattie, and Mark Bruce had two hits each for the Cubs. Jason Hockemeyer went three-for-four while Nate Richard and Matt Wizner added two hits apiece for Sanford.

Alpena 7, Traverse City 5 – Austin Clark had four hits and knocked in two runs to pace Alpena to the win. Andy Bouchard and Jeff Jucholski also chipped in with a pair of runs batted in each.

Black Sox 12, Marquette 0 – Kyle Diotte went two-for-two and knocked in three runs to pace the Black Sox. Black Sox pitching held the Blues to just three hits in the game.

Sanford 10, Traverse City 1 – Ben Arnola homered and knocked in four runs to pace the Sanford attack. Mike Allen also chipped in with three hits for Sanford. Brendan Bradfield had the lone Traverse City hit in the loss.

Alpena 13, EUP Travelers 4 – Andy Bouchard had a pair of hits as Alpena broke the game open in the middle innings. Alpena scored five runs in the third inning, three in the fourth, and four more in the fifth inning. Zach Rambo and Mike Suriano had a pair of hits each for the Travelers.

Escanaba 11, Petoskey 2 – Chris Walechka had a pair of hits to pace the Escanaba attack. On the Petoskey side, Cal Tracy had a pair of hits while Petoskey managed just four hits as a team.

July 14th

Marquette 5, Traverse City 4 –In a game of two eliminated teams, the two clubs managed just seven total hits, three by Traverse City and four by Marquette. A.J. Lobb had a pair of hits for Marquette.

EUP Travelers 5, Petoskey 1 – EUP scored four runs in the first two innings to control the game form the outset. Craig Wallis was dominant on the mound with 10 strikeouts over seven innings. Giving up just one hit, Wallis threw only 76 pitches. Petoskey had just one hit, by Grant Tracy, and three baserunners total.

Sanford 3, Black Sox 0 – Greg Bartlett got the complete-game shutout, striking out six along the way. Nate Richard had a pair of hits for Sanford while Joey Lesage had the lone Black Sox hit. Andrew Toni struck out eight over seven innings of work for the Black Sox.

Escanaba 4, Alpena 0 – Escanaba scored four runs in the first two innings and cruised to the win. The Cubs win eliminated EUP from playoff contention on Sunday.

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